Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher are both first ballot Hall of Fame inductees. Who is the better linebacker?
There is no way getting around the fact that I have a bias towards Ray Lewis. This is a Ravens blog run by Ravens fans and that’s something we never shied away from. I would say though that I have a few non-Ravens jerseys, and Brian Urlacher’s jersey is one of them. I grew up watching both of these linebackers, and being incredible fans of both players. That puts me in an interesting position going into this debate. Who was the better linebacker?
The easy cop-out answer would be that they were both great, but incredibly different players. Ray Lewis thrived in a 4-3 defense early in his career, but spent most of it ruling a 3-4 defense. Urlacher was the perfect linebacker for a 4-3 defense that needed a linebacker in the middle that could cover. The truth is that both players were able to do it all. Despite their differences they have incredibly similar resumes.
Let’s look at the statistics in the first round of this contest. (Stats differ slightly on NFL.com and Pro-Football-Reference.com)
- Ray Lewis: 17 seasons, 1,562 tackles, 41.5 sacks, 19 forced fumbles, 31 interceptions
- Brian Urlacher: 13 seasons, 1,229 tackles, 41.5 sacks, 12 forced fumbles, 22 interceptions
The best argument for Urlacher is that the numbers aren’t that far apart, despite Lewis having four more seasons than him. Urlacher has some points in his corner for the rate at which he put up these numbers. Ray Lewis did this in 227 games, while Urlacher did it in 182. While they both have the same number of sacks, Urlacher was the more consistent pass rusher.
The most sacks Lewis ever had in a season was five. Urlacher had five years with over five sacks. Lewis has the advantage in terms of being a tackling machine. Lewis had eight seasons with over 100 tackles. Urlacher came close to 100 tackles a lot, but only had two seasons with over 100. The stats don’t give either player that big of an advantage over the other.